Monday, March 27, 2017

Okay so if you don't know the context of these verses, they make absolutely no sense. Basically, David was being a dumb guy and he didn't go out to war when everyone was supposed to. Instead he sent all his men out to fight and stayed home. In verse 2 of chapter 11 we're told that David got out of his bed one evening and went walking on the roof. Now honestly what on earth was he doing? David was definitely not in the place that he should have been. I don't know how he rationalized staying home from the war, but I'm sure he was convinced in his own mind that it was a good idea. That night he saw a woman bathing and long story short he ended up getting her pregnant. Instead of owning up to his mistakes, David tried to hide them. He called the woman's husband home from the war and tried to send him home to her to cover up his sin. Potentially he could trick the man into thinking that the baby was his and ta-da! David's mistake would go away for forever. Unfortunately for David, God doesn't let us hide our sins by covering them with bandaids. Uziah, the man who's wife David got pregnant, was probably one of the coolest guys in the Bible. He got a night off of war but he chose to stay uncomfortable to be in unity with his fellow soldiers. What a guy, honestly. Rest is needed, we all get tired and need a day off. But, Uziah knew that his day off was when the rest of the army got to go home. He didn't quit early and enjoy a night at home even when he could have. The self control that that must have taken is insane.

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still
dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there He prayed.”

Its pretty well known that I don’t like mornings. My poor
family had to deal with it for almost 18 years as each morning I would wake up
and glare at anyone who tried to have a conversation with me. My mom once told
me that everyone had decided to not talk to me for the first hour after I came
out of my room. Yikes. Honestly, it’s the dumbest thing. I mean, what reason do
I really have to wake up and immediately be mad? The Lord’s mercies are new
every morning and that alone is reason to have a good attitude about being
awake. But if I’m being totally honest, I think the biggest reason why I hated
mornings so much was because of their focus on me. I didn’t want to wake up, so
I snoozed my alarm as many times as possible. I didn’t want to face the
responsibilities of that day so I stayed in bed until I absolutely could not
avoid getting up. I didn’t want to be real with people so I used social media
as a way of escape before I even got out of bed. The list could go on, but
that’d be boring. My point is that my mornings were so filled with self that I
could never just enjoy the life the Lord gave me. The joy I should have had
wasn’t there simply because my eyes were on myself and not my Lord. Doing a
devo every day was a habit before Ignite, but it was never ever done early in
the morning. Ever. And considering that in my house, 7 people live together,
“desolate place” is a foreign concept to me. No matter which room you’re in, at
least one other person could walk in at any second. However, since being in
Ignite, the Lord has been changing my heart towards mornings. While I still
don’t like them and would rather start my day later, I now see value in being
up early in order to spend time with the Lord. For any reason other than being
with Jesus, I still think being up early is dumb. But like I said, there is
value in waking up to spend time with the Lord before your day starts and the
benefits of that far outweigh the cost of losing some sleep.

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but
one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone
who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain
a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not
with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline
my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I
myself should become disqualified.”

Yikes. Where do I even start? Okay, so I’m gonna do my best
to break this down in a way that sort of makes sense but honestly who knows how
this will go down. First things first. We’re all running a race. For
Christians, the race is run on the path that God chose for us. He set up the
track and the dates of the race, all we have to do is show up and stay on the
path. Now, running isn’t passive or lazy. When we run, it has to be a
whole-hearted effort. No half-hearted running allowed! Correct me if I’m wrong,
but, to run a race and not try to win is a waste of time. It doesn’t make any
sense to enter a race and then not give it your all and try to win the prize.
For Christians running the race, what is the prize you’re trying to obtain?
Paul tells us that our goal is not a perishable crown made by human hands but
an imperishable crown in heaven. I think the coolest thing about these crowns
is that they aren’t going to stay with us in heaven, we get to throw them back
down at the feet of Jesus, giving Him all the glory and honor for what He has
done. Because, while we may be given a crown… it wasn’t really our strength or
efforts that allowed us to obtain it. So, to keep it for ourselves makes no
sense. Okay and then we’re told that Paul doesn’t run with uncertainty. He
knows the steps he has to take, the obstacles he’s going to deal with, and
what’s waiting for him at the other side. The fact that Paul kept running the
race is pretty incredible, honestly. Life for him was kind of awful a lot of
the time. And yet he saw the eternal perspective of his sufferings in a way
that allowed him to have joy and peace that couldn’t be explained in earthly
terms. He knew how to be uncomfortable and still have joy. His life preached
the gospel whether he was comfortable or uncomfortable, safe or unsafe.

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is
profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that
which is to come.”

Honestly this verse is just so practical, its amazing and a
bit ridiculous. So last night 3 of the guys were working out and yeah, that
effort is going to profit them. Their bodies will be stronger and healthier
because of the work put in to build up muscle and the endorphins that kicked in
made their moods temporarily go up. The effects of working out are ones that
you generally want. But, when they’re old men sitting in their rocking chairs
on the front porch, is the exercise they do now going to serve them? Probably
not. As much as they hate to admit it, by that time their bodies will be weaker
and not able to do what they do now. But what I do know is that these guys
aren’t just seeking to build up their physical bodies. They are seeking the
Lord and storing their treasures up in heaven before they ever think of working
out. So, while the physical exercise is good… the godly character they are
building is the more profitable thing. Those 75 year old men will still be able
to draw from the spiritual lessons they’re learning right now. So what does
this mean for my life? I don’t really like working out so its not like there’s
some huge danger of that becoming an idol in my life. But, there are plenty of
other things that I love doing that require time and energy to be good at. For
example, I love painting. But if I don’t do it regularly my ability to do it
well goes down. I have a choice to make. Take the time I have to pour into
painting or take that time to draw closer to the Lord. Again, I am not saying
that having hobbies is sinful. But motives behind these things can be. So if
you work out, do it in a way that honors the Lord. When I paint, it needs to be
to honor the Lord. Because, if these things are done for the sake of me…
they’re pretty much useless.

Friday, March 17, 2017

The longer I do daily IBS’s the more I am convinced that the
essence of the simple gospel is the most important thing. I’ve always known it,
but complex doctrine definitely interested me a lot more than simply knowing
Jesus more. I would do random word studies for fun or read different peoples’
opinions on certain doctrinal issues just to see different sides to things.
While there is nothing wrong with knowing these things, it is so easy to get
caught up in the details that you forget who they point to. Its almost like
using a microscope to look at Van Goh’s “Stary Night (is that how its
spelled?)” Yes, you’re going to learn a lot about the tiny little brush strokes
and how the paint blends together but you’ll never experience the beauty of the
full picture. What a tragedy to never just sit back and enjoy the beauty and
splendor of the big picture. In Philippians 3:11 Paul and Timothy are saying
that there is no price too high for the sake of following Jesus. Not that there
is no price too high for Calvinism, arminianism, old earth theology, or any of
the million other things the church divides over. “Any means” is a statement
that covers everything. It includes leaving home, your comfort zone, family,
friends, job security, etc. “Any means” includes persecution and tribulations.
Resurrection from the dead is Christianity’s war cry because if the victory
over death has already been won, no other victory is impossible.

“…That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and
the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death…”

This verse has two aspects to it. In the first half you see
this incredible victory that was given to Christ when He resurrected. He
defeated death once and for all, not just for Himself but for humanity. No
longer is death and end but merely a beginning. Death in the law meant
separation for eternity, but through Christ it is the beginning of perfect
communion with God. God is just. This is so evident even in that Christ’s death
is the only substitute for our sin. His perfection is just that: perfect. If
perfection is the standard then the only thing that can be offered in our stead
must be perfect. I feel like this makes no sense, so to sum it up… Perfection
is the requirement. We can’t offer that, so Christ came to offer the only thing
good enough: His perfection. I know I’ve said this a million times, but the
power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us. We belong to that same God!
Okay, second half of the verse doesn’t really have the same mood. But its still
so important! When we suffer for the Lord, we are not left on our own to wallow
in a self-righteous misery. He meets us in the wilderness with words of promise
and comfort. Yes, suffering is inevitable. If we are passionately pursuing the
Lord, we will experience it. But that doesn’t mean that we are being punished
for that time we messed up. Suffering is how we are “conformed to His death.”
When we know what it is to die with Him, we can know what it is to live with
Him. Through death comes true life.

“…And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which is from God by faith.”

This verse reminds me of chapter 11 of Hebrews. This chapter
is well known as the hall of faith which is fitting since, well, its all about
people’s faith in God. The second verse of Hebrews 11 tells us that it was by
faith the elders obtained a good testimony, not by their righteous works or
obedience to the law. The God of the Old Testament is the exact same God of the
New Testament, so just as it was Abrahams faith that was accounted to him as
righteousness (Genesis 15:6), our faith in Jesus is what makes us righteous. It
is a humbling thing to have God show you your lack of righteousness. We know in
our heads that there is nothing good in us, but to have that knowledge become a
reality is completely different. Everything in our human nature wants to do it
on our own and prove how capable we really are. We act as if going to church
and doing outreaches is enough to live up to God’s standards of perfection. But
to give up even trying to acquire righteous and taking Christ’s gift of
righteousness instead is the ultimate sacrifice of control. You aren’t just
giving up your ability to be enough, you’re giving up your ability to pretend
to be good enough for God. Once you’ve accepted Christ’s righteousness, all
masks have to be dropped. Deceiving yourself is no longer an option as your own
sin is revealed to you. Pretending to be anything other than what you are with
other people isn’t possible. Being real becomes the only option.

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…”

Giving things up for the sake of knowing Jesus is something
everyone in Ignite has been learning how to do. We all left our normal lives to
live a radical one for a year(but the idea is that this radical life will never
end). A prime example of giving something up is giving up ownership of our
personalities. I realized today how much we’ve all changed since we first got
here and how much more we’re going to change during our 6 months of field time.
For me personally, I was so sure that who I was is who I would be for the rest
of my life. I acted like God isn’t big enough to change me and mold me into His
image. “Me” became what was normal. But now I have no clue what normal is for
me. I don’t know what personality traits make up “me” anymore. I used to know,
but God has completely stripped me of all of it. When I surrendered my life to
God’s plan, part of that was giving up my right to define myself. I am not what
I think I am or what I define myself as. I am a child of the God who made the
heavens and the earth. I am chosen and accepted only by the power of His blood.
He knew me and set me apart before I was even born in order to love and serve
Him. In light of what he has declared me to be, how dare I try to decide that
I’m something else? To live as anything other than what He has made me to be is
the biggest tragedy I could ever cause. Nothing else would leave me as lost and
purposeless. So yeah, Jesus gets to define me. Not me. Because I just mess it
all up.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Well, the answer is no. Two cannot walk this life together
unless they are agreed. In order for a team of two to function properly, they
have to have a common goal. If they are going different directions, unity will
be broken. This should never be found in the church since we have the same God.
I am so thankful for the opportunity I have in Costa Rica with Abby to get a
taste of what it is to be committed to one person, serving the Lord and just
doing life together. Honestly, I know how I like to do things and I know why I
like to do them the way I do. But, I think a big part of walking in agreement
is realizing that the thing that unifies us is more important than the method
of completing the work we are doing. For example, does it really matter what
craft you do with the kids during church as long as Jesus’ name is proclaimed?
If our goal is to teach a truth about Jesus, the little details should be
things we are flexible on and hold loosely. Yes, serving the Lord faithfully is
what we aim to do, its why we’re in Ignite, but if He isn’t our one thing then
we aren’t serving Him. The vision of what I want or what I think should happen is
something that should never be held with white knuckles. Holding onto my
ideas/vision/methods/etc will only cause tension where it doesn’t need to be.
Being “right” is something I need to be ready to sacrifice for the sake of
unity. We serve the same God, we are heading to the same place, that is enough
to walk unified.

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him
his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your
brother.”

Every single time field time is brought up, interpersonal
conflict is the next thing to be talked about. I don’t think any of us expected
to always get along perfectly, but I none of us came here thinking “wow, I just
can’t wait to fight with my teammates!” But, considering that we aren’t
perfect, expecting perfection is really not realistic. Looking for sin is
foolish but so is expecting it to not be there. Working through conflict in a
godly way is so difficult because just about all the time, it means dying to
self and putting on new life in Christ. In the heat of the moment, there is
nothing I want less than to give up my rights and be the peacemaker. Especially
if I’m convinced that I’m right. In the flesh, giving up my rights is humiliating
and completely ridiculous. My nature says to stand up for what I want and think
with ever fiber of my being. But man, when I’m walking in the Spirit and I
choose to just do as He says, the outcome is incredible. Instead of the problem
becoming even bigger, it is worked through and unity is rebuilt. Now, I don’t
expect to be able to just start living this verse out perfectly. It would
definitely be nice, but that’s not how life works. But, what I can do is ask
the Lord to teach me to humbly go to the one who has wronged me and work
through the problem before it gets bigger. This cannot be done in my own
strength but in the strength that God offers to those who trust in Him.

“Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good
comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be
with you.”

I like to fight. Arguing is a hobby of mine and if I can
start a debate, I will. For a very long time I only used this ability to debate
any topic imaginable for evil. If you
give me a side, its not hard for me to argue that side passionately. I fought
with everyone about everything and I enjoyed it. My stubbornness is through the
roof at times and it makes me someone that I wouldn’t really like. Even though
I knew it wasn’t godly, my attitude made an appearance as often as possible for
years. But here I am told to live in peace. In one of the psalms (I think) we
are encouraged to seek peace and pursue it. Peace is not something that just
happens, it has to be cultivated and fought for. Wait, fight for peace? That
doesn’t sound right. Bear with me for a second, though. Our nature is to divide
and be at odds with one another and with Christ. Left on our own, we fight.
What if instead of fighting each other and God, we fight against our sin
nature? The victory has already been won, but the daily battles still have to
be fought. Choose your battles. Fight against the temptation to sin and instead
live for the Lord.

“Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your
mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own
opinion.”

The body of Christ is relationship based. Without relationship,
there is no body. But, as fallen humans we like to mess things up as much as
possible. Because we have an enemy who hates unity, the attacks on the church
are, more often than not, divisive. If the devil can pit us against each other,
he has already won the war. A church united terrifies him, but when its divided
it can’t do much against him. In verse 15 of chapter 12, Paul tells us to weep
with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Clearly, we must look
beyond ourselves to do this. We have to look far enough outside of self that we
are able to empathize with one another to the point of feeling their joy and
pain in our own lives. Be of the same mind. Love the same God. Have the same
goal. Be unified. Sounds simple enough until you read the next two verses and
think about why they’re there. “Do not set your mind on high things, but
associate with the humble.” Well, there goes any and all ideas of elitism or
Christianity only being for the scholarly. The saving gospel is simple. When we
start to embellish or add fluff to what God has proclaimed to be true, we make
Him out to be a liar by saying that what He did isn’t enough. Associating with
the humble should not be a problem for Christians because we know the truth
that we are all equal at the foot of the cross, we all need Jesus just as much
as the next person. So why is it so hard to associate with the humble? Probably
because we are wise in our own opinions. We fail to remember the magnitude of
our own failure in light of God’s holiness. This generation is not without
hope, the same God who created everything by speaking it into existence is
alive today. Let us pray for revival in this world!

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to
become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be
first among you, let him be your slave-just as the Son of Man did not come to
be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

A lot of the basic principles seem completely backward. How
could being a servant make you great? How could being a slave make you first in
the kingdom? How on earth could giving your life away allow you to gain eternal
life? In an earthly mindset, this is completely backwards and illogical. But,
maybe that’s the point. We know that our fallen minds cannot fully grasp the
mysteries of God, and this just proves it. I am reminded of the verse that says
it is better to give than to receive and how it really doesn’t make any sense
and yet it is shown to be true when we actually live it out. The majority of
these principles go against what our human nature wants, but man, the blessings
that come from denying your flesh far outweigh the initial sacrifice it seems
to be! Our example is Jesus, we want our lives to look like His did. But that
doesn’t mean everyone is going to like us, life is easy, and then we get
rewarded in heaven for living a good life. Press on, my friends. Dying to self
isn’t easy but it is not something you’ll ever regret doing.

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending
sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘come at once and
sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my
supper, and gird yourself and serve me till have eaten and drunk, and afterward
you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things
that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all
those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We
have done what was our duty to do.’”

Oh man, I see so much humility required to live out these
verses. If I live these out, I don’t live for myself. I don’t get to demand
anything in return for what I do or even feel pride that I accomplished so
much. There is a common saying among Christians, “dead men have no rights,” and
I think that it sums up this verse pretty well. When Jesus died, we became
forever indebted to Him. Accepting Him into your heart is signing your life
away and giving it to someone greater than you are. We can never truly pay Him
back for what He did, but He asks for our heart and that seems reasonable to me
in light of eternity. The only thing we have to offer is our heart and with our
heart comes our life. We are no longer free to live as we please because we are
“slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:18). Slaves have no rights, what their
master commands they do or they suffer the consequences. American Christians
seem to have a really hard time with this concept. We treasure freedom and the
ability to choose what we want so much that it affects our relationship with
the Lord. Instead of being Christians who live in America, we become Americans
who are also Christians. We forget who is really in control and holds
everything together by His power. I know I bring this verse up all the time,
but in Romans 12:1 it says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to
God, which is your reasonable service.” It is a reasonable thing to become a
living sacrifice, fully submitted to the Lord.

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am,
there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

Following is so simple in theory. Kids like to play follow
the leader and honestly its one of the simplest games you can imagine, you
don’t have to be creative or intelligent. There’s no independence or planning
out the next step you’re going to take. You simply do what the leader is doing.
That isn’t exactly how walking with Jesus is, but there are similarities. As
messy humans, we like to complicate everything but in reality, the power is in
the simple gospel, not complex doctrine. Actually, all the basic principles of
being a Christian are simple. Something I’ve been learning the past week or so
is that to simply love Jesus is the most important thing. More than our actions
He wants our full devotion. Out of that devoted love stems the obedience to
follow, but without the love, the following is just an empty action. C.S. Lewis
said, “But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him, everything else
thrown in.” When you follow Him with your whole heart, you get to be a part of
amazing things. Just this last week the girls from Ignite got to see girls we
had never met come to Christ. We were obedient to follow where the Lord led and
because of that obedience, we got to see Him move. It wasn’t our amazing
talents or gifts, but a desire to see the Lord use our obedience. Sure, being
there required sacrifice. We gave up the home we’ve been at for two months and
all of its comforts for smaller rooms, different beds, and earlier than normal
mornings. But, we followed where God led and got to see Him use us in ways we
could never have imagined. Following where the Lord leads is more than worth
it.